Talks and Events

Join the lecture on the longest and greatest railway in world’s history.

The subject of battles and overtaken by troops, the world’s longest railway has a difficult past.

Built to solidify Russia’s hold over its eastern territory, it was the cause of the Russo-Japanese war of 1904 – 5 and played a key role in the aftermath of the 1917 Revolution. The Western allies, led by the US, briefly considered using the line to invade Russia and troops from several Western countries were sent to Vladivostok, only for the plan to be abandoned by war-weary governments.

Christian Wolmar, railway historian and author of To the Edge of the World, the story of the Trans-Siberian, recounts this little known aspect of the history of the First World War and its aftermath.